Luba-Kasai, also known as Western Luba, ''Bena-Lulua, Cilubà/Tshilubà'', ''Luba-Lulua'' or ''Luva'', is a

Bantu language The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The t ...

( Zone L) of Central Africa and a national language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, alongside Lingala,

Swahili Swahili may refer to: * Swahili language, a Bantu language official in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and widely spoken in the African Great Lakes * Swahili people, an ethnic group in East Africa * Swahili culture Swahili culture is the culture of ...

, and Kikongo ya leta. An eastern dialect is spoken by the Luba people of the

East Kasai Region East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

and a western dialect by the

Lulua people Lulua may refer to: * ''Lulua'' (beetle), a genus of beetles in the subfamily Prioninae * Lulua River * Lulua District * Lulua Province (proposed) * Lulua Province (former) Luluabourg Province was created in 1962 from Kasai province. It was nam ...

of the

West Kasai Region Kasaï-Occidental (French for "Western Kasai"; lua, Kasai Wa Mubuelu) was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Kasaï-Central and the Kasaï provinces. History ...

. The total number of speakers was estimated at 6.3 million in 1991. Within the Zone L Bantu languages, Luba-Kasai is one of a group of languages which form the "Luba" group, together with

Kaonde Kaonde (''kiiKaonde'') is a Bantu language spoken primarily in Zambia but also in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kaonde and its dialects are spoken and understood by perhaps 350,000 people or more. It is estimated that approximately 2.3% ...

(L40),

Kete KETE (99.7 FM; "Three Angels Broadcasting Network") is a terrestrial radio station, licensed to Sulphur Bluff, Texas, United States, and owned by Brazos TV, Inc. KETE broadcasts a Christian preaching format, featuring programming from the Thre ...

(L20), Kanyok,

Luba-Katanga Luba-Katanga, also known as Luba-Shaba and ''Kiluba'' ( lu, Kiluba), is a Bantu language ( Zone L) of Central Africa. It is spoken mostly in the south-east area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Luba people. Kiluba is spoken in ...

(KiLuba),

Sanga Sanga may refer to: People *Sanga, a Roman cognomen *Rana Sanga (c. 1482–1528), king from the Sisodia dynasty *Kumar Sangakkara (born 1977), Sri Lankan cricketer * Sanga (wrestler) (born 1984), ring name of professional wrestler Saurav Gurja ...

, Zela and

Bangubangu The Bangubangu are a Bantu people from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, primarily in the Kabambare Territory. They speak the Bangubangu language. They also live in Tanzania, where they migrated during the 19th century and are usually known ...

. The L20, L30 and L60 languages are also grouped as the Luban languages within Zone L Bantu.

Geographic distribution and dialects

Tshiluba is chiefly spoken in a large area in the

Kasaï Occidental Kasaï-Occidental (French for "Western Kasai"; lua, Kasai Wa Mubuelu) was one of the eleven provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 1966 and 2015, when it was split into the Kasaï-Central and the Kasaï provinces. History T ...

and

Kasaï Oriental Kasai or Kasaï may refer to: Places Congo * Congo-Kasaï, one of the four large provinces of Belgian Congo * Kasaï District, in the Kasai-Occidental province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Kasai Province, one of the provinces ...

provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, the differences in Tshiluba within the area are minor, consisting mostly of differences in tones and vocabulary, and speakers easily understand one another. Both dialects have subdialects. Additionally, there is also a

pidginised A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...

variety of Tshiluba, especially in cities, where the everyday spoken Tshiluba is enriched with

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

words and even words from other languages, such as Lingala or

. Nevertheless, it is not a typical form of a pidgin since it is not common to everyone but changes its morphology and the quantity and degree to which words from other languages are used. Its form changes depending on who speaks it and varies from city to city and social class to social class. However, people generally speak the regular Tshiluba language in their daily lives, rather than pidgin. The failure of the language to be taught at school has resulted in the replacement of native words by French words for the most part. For instance, people speaking generally count in French, rather than Tshiluba. The situation of French and Tshiluba being used simultaneously made linguists mistakenly think that the language had been pidginised.

Vocabulary

Alphabet

Luba-Kasai uses the Latin alphabet, with the digraphs ''ng'', ''ny'' and ''sh'' but without the letters ''q'', ''r'' and ''x'':

Phonology

Tshiluba has a 5 vowel system with vowel length: The chart shows the consonants of Tshiluba. * /p/ may also have the sound � * If a /d/ is preceding an /i/, it may also be pronounced as an affricate sound ʒ

Sample text

According to The Rosetta Project, Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights translates to: :''Bantu bonsu badi baledibwa badikadile ne badi ne makokeshi amwe. Badi ne lungenyi lwa bumuntu ne kondo ka moyo, badi ne bwa kwenzelangana malu mu buwetu.'' :"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." According t
Learn Tshiluba (Mofeko)
:''Mukayi wuani udi mu bujimi'' :"My wife is on the farm" :''Mulunda wanyi mujikija kalasa Uenda mu tshidimu tshishala'' :"My friend completed his/her studies last year"

References

Bibliography

*Stappers, Leo. ''Tonologische bijdrage tot de studie van het werkwoord in het tshiluba''. 1949. Mémoires (Institut royal colonial belge. Section des sciences morales et politiques). Collection in-8^o ; t. 18, fasc. 4. *de Schryver, Gilles-Maurice. ''Cilubà Phonetics: Proposals for a 'Corpus-Based Phonetics from Below' Approach''. 1999. Research Centre of African Languages and Literatures, University of Ghent. *DeClercq, P. ''Grammaire de la langue des bena-lulua.'' 1897. Polleunis et Ceuterick. *Muyunga, Yacioko Kasengulu. 1979. ''Lingala and Ciluba speech audiometry''. Kinshasa: Presses Universitaires du Zaïre pour l'Université Nationale du Zaïre (UNAZA). *Kabuta, Ngo. ''Loanwords in Cilubà.'' 2012. University of Ghent, Belgium. *Willems, Em. ''Het Tshiluba van Kasayi voor beginnelingen''. 1943. Sint Norbertus.

External links

* Tola Akindipe, Veronica Tshiama & Francisco Yamba
Largest online resource to learn Tshiluba (Mofeko)

Online Cilubà - French Dictionary

BBC News: Congo word "most untranslatable"

PanAfrican L10n page on Luba

Tshiluba Language and Alphabet (Omniglot)

Tshiluba: Kasai Language
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luba language Luban languages Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo